It baffles me to no end when religionists get upset for their own scriptures by their critics, and demand “apologies”-without pointing out any errors in the quote! If the text has been misquoted, or “taken out of context” as we are told, then why won’t they offer a clarification? And if it is not, doesn’t that suggest that the problem is the text itself?
Quotes like this one:
There was a hideous assassination in the flower of Europe in the heart of European Union in a Jewish museum in Brussels. I will not let myself being calmed down by the declaration that there are only tiny fringe groups behind it. On the contrary, I am convinced that this xenophobia, and let’s call it racism or antisemitism, emerges from the very essence of the ideology these groups subscribe to.
So let me quote one of their sacred texts to support this statement: ‘A tree says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. A stone says, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’
The words are from the Czech president Miloš Zeman, and the quote is right out of the horse’s mouth: a hadith, or saying of Prophet Mohammad. And sure enough, the roots of Islamic antisemitism go way beyond a single hadith: for instance, there are numerous examples of the word “Jews” in this page that lists hateful verses in the Koran. Or watch this video, which shows Islamic commentator keep going back to the scripture to justify their hatred against Jews.
But this is Islam, and hence the apology demand doesn’t come from a loony fundamentalist group, but rather (unless this one counts) the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the notorious umbrella organization covering ALL Muslim majority countries with a reputation for trying to stifle freedom of expression beyond the borders of its member states.
Iyad Ameen Madani [picture above], Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, issued a statement condemning Zeman’s speech, saying, “It is only appropriate that President Milōs Zeman apologizes to the millions of Muslims worldwide for his deeply offensive and hateful anti Islam statements.”
In the OIC’s statement, it said, “The Secretary General reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that terrorism should not be equated to any race or religion; a stance upheld by all major UN texts on the subject of countering terrorism. He added that the OIC countries share a profound respect for all religions and condemn any message of hatred and intolerance.”
It would interesting if OIC officials were ever asked, since Islam is such a “peaceful” and dynamic religion with millions of followers, how come there has never been a systemic movement among them to distance themselves from this overwhelming scriptural antisemitism, as happened, for instance, at the Second Vatican Council? Or maybe such questions simply never come up due to Islamophobophobia?
Luckily, Zeman is not caving.
Czech media reported spokesman Jiří Ovčáček’s statement saying that Zeman would not be apologizing for his statements in which he linked Islamic ideology with violence.
“President Zeman definitely does not intend to apologize,” the spokesman said. “For the president would consider it blasphemy to apologize for the quotation of a sacred Islamic text.”
Which I am sure will surprise the OIC:
Blogger Gates of Vienna, who flagged the spokesman’s statement on Thursday, said “As far as I am aware, Miloš Zeman is the first Western head of state ever to tell the OIC to go jump in a lake. So this is an historic occasion.”
About freaking time.
